. >> reporter: if washington can't reach a compromise, the economic recovery could stall. if we cannot figure this out, they're putting a bunch of huge and ugly potholes on a road that was supposedly going to get us to economic recovery. >> reporter: in fact, air traffic controllers warn that more than 100 small airports could lose their control towers. jobs and revenue that may never come back. john bentley, cbs news, new york. >> winter storms are spreading across the country, a massive storm that created havoc east of the mississippi is now headed to new england. that storm left a trail of power outages in the southeast after dumping some 15 inches of snow. in california, heavy snows continue to pile up. but inside the storm clouds there is a silver lining, as carter evans reports. >> reporter: snow fell again today in california's mountains. the latest in a string of storms that could have a major effect on the state's drought. >> if this trend top storys we'll be looking at excess water, rather than a water shortage. >> reporter: this san francisco meteorologist says